[Anarchafeministsnetwork] consent weekend

[yrstruly at riseup.net]

hello to everyone on the anarcha-feminist email list!

hope everyone is doing well, still buzzing here from that skillshare. just
wanted to talk about the consent weekend some of us were interested in
having. we need to nail down the dates and location for it, then maybe we
can start talking about what workshops and discussions we want to have.
poppy generously offered her house in wexford, which means it would have
to be the weekend of april 22.

we talked about the april 29th weekend as a possibility, but that weekend
is the annual rossport solidarity camp gathering, which we wouldn't want
to clash with!

we also could potentially have it at the camp house in rossport, much like
the anarchafeminist gathering. we´re a bit biased in that we´d like kate
and ben and a couple other camp people who are interested in consent to be
able to go, and if shell is working it's not likely that they'd make it
down to wexford that weekend. an added biased bonus for us would be that
if shell is working, it'd be cool to have extra people from the consent
weekend stay on the camp for a few days after the weekend if they want to.
could be a two-birds one-stone trip for some people.

the actual camp will be set up then, so people from the camp not
participating in the consent weekend would not be staying in the house.
the house could be reserved for consent people that weekend. the only
drawback we can see would be that for discussions and workshops on consent
we´d really want to have a safe space where people can relax to be able to
explore some of these difficult subjects with each other, and rossport may
not be the most relaxing location for some people. what do people think?
is that a big enough issue that wexford is better than mayo?

also the issue of travel. from cork and dublin, wexford is easier to get
to than mayo. is that a major issue for people?

the reason some of us didn't want to have it in dublin, which is obviously
easiest travel-wise, is cos we thought it'd be better for group bonding
and trust building if we were in the countryside somewhere, all staying in
the same place like we were at the anarchafeminist gathering. in dublin
everyone would go home at night and stay in different places and be
separated and that wouldnt be as nice.

so it seems our main options for locations is wexford or mayo. in both
locations the weekend of april 22 is the only good time in april,
otherwise we'd have to pick some time in may (but poppy can't do may, so
may means mayo).... unless anyone has another idea? what do people think?

at the anarchafeminist skillshare a few of us talked about how its
probably important to keep this first consent weekend small, like 15-20
people, and since i already know of at least 20 people off the top of my
head who are interested, i dont think we should publicise the weekend.
just from those of us talking about it at the anarchafeminist weekend and
word of mouth we'll have a big group already. and someone suggested that
to take the pressure off, we shouldnt see this as a once-off event that we
need to get as many people to attend as possible, but instead see it as a
first step. it'll be more managable and probably more rewarding for those
involved if we keep it small.

so instead of trying to get all our friends who've never thought about
consent to go, i personally would prefer this to be a space for people who
are already interested in consent and want an opportunity to explore it
further with other interested people. this way we don't have to spend time
and energy doing basic 101 stuff. and then  maybe at the weekend we can
have discussions about how to start conversations about consent in our
communities, and maybe do more 'outreach' to people who haven't thought
about it. maybe people will come away from this consent weekend ready to
give consent workshops in their communities and groups! how does that
sound to people?

this email is really long so we'll stop there. please respond if you wanna
have input in the organising of it, or facilitate a workshop, or say if
you dont have time for that but you wanna attend. please respond with at
least your interest if you are thinking you will attend!

okay cool cant wait!
yrs,
lee & lenka